If you may or may not recall, Mr. Hawthorne likes a nice breakfast on Sunday morning, since throughout the week he's been catering to his high cholesterol and high blood pressure by eating wall paper paste, or, for him, oatmeal.
This particular Sunday, he was hungry and wanted me to fix him one of his favorites,
Eggs Benedict.
Alas, I had no Thomas' English Muffins.
What to do?
Make my own English Muffins.
I used the Grande Dame's recipe from Julia Child and Company.
And just took short cuts, and added my own little tweaks, since Mr. H. wasn't about to wait too long for his breakfast and Julia's recipe needs a bit of time.
I dissolved 1 package yeast in 1 cup of warm water.
Proofed with a bit of sugar sprinkled on top.
I grated a potato and simmered in water.
Then added 1 cup milk to the drained potatoes and added the potato/milk mixture and the yeast to 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour.
Mixed thoroughly with a wooden spoon to make a smooth, loose, thick batter, thicker than pancake batter but not at all like a conventional dough.
I covered and let it rise.
What to do?
Make my own English Muffins.
I used the Grande Dame's recipe from Julia Child and Company.
And just took short cuts, and added my own little tweaks, since Mr. H. wasn't about to wait too long for his breakfast and Julia's recipe needs a bit of time.
I dissolved 1 package yeast in 1 cup of warm water.
Proofed with a bit of sugar sprinkled on top.
I grated a potato and simmered in water.
Then added 1 cup milk to the drained potatoes and added the potato/milk mixture and the yeast to 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour.
Mixed thoroughly with a wooden spoon to make a smooth, loose, thick batter, thicker than pancake batter but not at all like a conventional dough.
I covered and let it rise.
Until it was nice and bubbly.
Then I melted butter in my iron skillet, buttered my biscuit cutters, and added the batter.
Cooked 6-8 minutes on the first side.
Then turned over and cooked a few minutes more.
Here are my homemade English Muffins.
I canItellya, they tasted like Thomas', only much, much better.
Poor Dixie is smelling all these smells.
If you look closely, she's drooling.
Poor Dixie wants my food, NOW.
So, with the English Muffins made, let's go on to the Eggs Benedict.
Above, I have my simmering water, with vinegar and salt, which I swirled around, then dropped an egg into the vortex.
Here's my Hollandaise Sauce:
lemon juice
egg yolks
(The egg yolks were left over from the whites
I used the other day to make my consomme.)
Whisk constantly over low heat.
Then add pats of butter, whisking.
S & P
Heat up the ham slices in some buttah.
Steamed spinach.
Fork open my English Muffin.
Lookie!
It has nooks and crannies.
And possibly nookies and crans.
WHOOT!
And assemble.
English Muffin on bottom, then ham slice, spinach, poached egg, and Hollandaise.
This was so good, I just add to shoot several pictures.
By the way, I'm never buying Thomas' again.
10 comments:
Rosie, Rosie, Rosie. Mr H is a fortunate individual because I can tell you that every other woman in America, when faced with an absence of English muffins, would have told their men, "Tough nuggies!" Only you would decide to be nice and make English muffins from scratch. You have my permission to throw this in Mr H's face at any appropriate moment, by the way.
Homemade English muffins????? you are a goddess in my book. I would have done what Marilyn suggested....or sent the hubby to the store. Your cooking skills really do amaze me Rosie. BTW -- I made Ina's eggplant grating tonight with beef tenderloin. If you like eggplant, you must try this recipe. I was somewhat put off by the marinara sauce it called for -- made it a little soupy and the taste just didn't seem to go. I was thinking maybe some mushrooms and carmelized onions would be good to replace the marinara. If you ever make it, let me know what you think about the marinara....would love to see what you could do with this recipe, because the idea is a good one, just not sure about the red sauce.
That would be eggplant gratin, not grating. Freudian slip.
Hey Kelley,
I have eggplant ready in my garden and would love Ina's recipe. Could you please send me the link?
BTW, I will be posting my own eggplant casserole recipe soon, which is quite delish.
Thanks, Rosie
Lightened Hollandaise sauce....
4 teaspoons butter
1/2 cup water
1 egg yolk
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1/2 tablespoon flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
lemon zest
Melt the butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Whisk the water, egg yolk, lemon juice, mustard and salt in a small bowl. Gradually add the flour. Whisk this mixture into the butter, stirring constantly. Bring to a boil and stir about 45 seconds. Remove from heat and stir in the lemon zest.
I use this recipe all the time, usually make a double batch, and I'll sometimes use three yolks since they seem to come in 3s when I have leftovers (and I believe in the nutrition of egg yolks - one egg yolk is not as bad as a whole stick of butter).
Oooh, thank you mrsvjw. I'll have to try that.
BTW, I only used 1/2 stick of butter.
Have you ever had enough english muffins leftover to see how they would freeze?
xmaskatie, according to Julia, "fresh muffins freeze beautifully and keep freshest when stored frozen, although they will stay fresh enough wrapped airtight in a plastic bag for a day or two in the refrigerator."
I just froze mine.
Here you go....
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/eggplant-gratin-recipe/index.html
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